When you are booking your tickets for a show at a famous theatre whether it is a performance by an orchestra or a play by a company you have been meaning to watch, you are always posed with this a question about whether it is the balcony you want to be seated or the mezzanine People do find it confusing because for most of us it is the same thing if you refer to a mezzanine or to a balcony. They both enable you to overlook some empty space and mostly mezzanine is just a fancy word for a balcony.
If we are being honest though, in technical terms a mezzanine is as different from the balcony as the balcony is from the terrace. Then what exactly is the difference and how can one not make a fool of oneself by referring one instead of another at a cocktail party?
A quick search on Google would give you the definition of a mezzanine floor and if you are brave enough then you might want to dig deeper into the etymology of the word and enlighten yourself with yet another fact. To keep things simple and to understand the concept easily you must remember a thumb rule of inside-outside. Strictly speaking, balconies have historically allowed people to look at the world outside their rooms. A place where one can stand and feel the fresh breeze or admire the surroundings.
They have offered an outlet to the world outside where in the mornings you can welcome the sun or at night admire the moon and the stars. In a modern world, however, balconies have taken many shapes and sizes, including the ones that you find in the theatre. The thumb rule might not strictly apply here since a balcony in a theatre offers a view inside it and onto the stage. Here the balcony will be the highest floor that enables you to look at the performance below.
You might ask then what is a mezzanine if not a balcony below a balcony? For starters, you cannot call something a second something when you can give it a proper name right! Hence the word mezzanine floor which technically means an intermediate floor. However, for a mezzanine to be called that, the building should itself be of double-height. Mezzanines also have a utility as well when created in an industrial space or in a warehouse. They could be permanent structures or temporary spaces created for a specific purpose.
Strictly speaking, mezzanine floors will never extend over the floor space below them. A person standing on the edge can clearly see who is standing in the floor below and vice-versa. One interesting thing to note here is that a mezzanine will never be counted in the number of floors a building has. In a theatrical set-up, the mezzanine always gives a better view than a balcony owing to its proximity to the stage and some people might argue that it is better than those boxes on the sides that offer privacy but not the view.
